


Doomed Love

by MadMadamMims



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute, Light-Hearted, M/M, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-03 15:16:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17880188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadMadamMims/pseuds/MadMadamMims
Summary: Even the strongest of bonds, can be paper-thin.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> PROMPT:  
> “I wasn’t planning on this. Falling in love with you was the last thing I wanted. Because I know our time would have to come to end. Yet, here I am, begging you not to turn the page.” 
> 
> cross-posting from AFF.

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 1

 

Lee Taemin sighed as he entered his bedroom late one night. He was exhausted. His body over-worked, his mind still reeling. He needed a break. He needed to relax. He just had so much going on recently. Life was complicated and sometimes just . . . too hard to deal with.  

His slipped out of his sneakers and promptly flopped onto his bed face first, his entire body sinking into the mattress on a groan.  

Kim Jongin waited patiently on the bed next to Taemin, his owner. The boy who bought him about three months ago was very difficult to please. He was constantly ignoring Jongin or just leaving him in the bedroom all day. To wait, to age, to think of different ways to please him. Because after all, Jongin's main purpose was for Taemin to love him. That's what he had been bought for. To be loved, cherished, enjoyed, sometimes savored, and most especially, fondly remembered. 

But it was difficult. Taemin was difficult.  

Taemin groaned again and shifted his head to the side, eyeing Jongin lazily. "I'm so bored." He spoke into the converter. He reached out a hand and tugged Jongin closer to him, his fingers brushing against Jongin's spine and then over his face as he inspected him. "Entertain me." He all but commanded before spreading Jongin out in front of him, opening him, exposing his everything to Taemin's eyes.  

"What do you know about me?" Jongin asked, his voice deep and soothing.  

Taemin smiled slightly, his eyes feeling heavy already. He liked the way Jongin spoke. "Mmm . . . you killed someone?" 

Jongin sighs dramatically. "No, Taemin. I told you, I didn't kill anyone. I witnessed the murder, remember?" 

Taemin rolls his eyes. "Oh right. You're supposed to be blind." 

Jongin narrows his eyes. "What do you mean supposed to be? Do you think I'm lying?" 

Taemin shrugs, uninterested, "I mean . . . sounds a little cliché. Blind boy witnesses the biggest murder of the century? No other witnesses?"  

"Well if you keep listening, perhaps you would find out more clues. It's not my fault you haven't talked to me in three months." 

Taemin pouts and raises an accusing eyebrow. "Isn't it though? I mean aren't you supposed to keep my interest? Isn't that why I bought you?" 

Jongin grits his teeth. "Fine. Do you remember who was murdered?" 

Taemin looks up, wracking his brain. "Some Baroness? Something about pearls and a blue dress and France." 

"Wow, so detailed. Do you even like murder mysteries?" 

Taemin giggles at the light teasing. He kind of likes to pester Jongin. Finds comfort in this back and forth they've naturally formed. "You know, I kind of do like you. I've just been busy. But--" Taemin pauses, considering. "I think maybe I'll take you with me tomorrow. I always have a long break during classes and never know what to do with myself. Will you keep me company?" Taemin asks expectantly. 

"Not like I have a choice."  

"Mmm, I'm looking forward to it." Taemin says, feeling lighter than when he originally came home. "So the Baroness, the dead one. You say you witnessed the murder, but you didn't see anything, right? How's that possible?" 

Jongin smirks and then clears his throat. "Well, you don't have to see a murder to know someone's just been killed. There are a lot of senses that can be used in deduction. Like . . . smell and sound." 

"What did you smell?" 

"First? Her perfume. Strong, pungent, not very floral . . . more earthy, but with a mix of something deeper, more heavy. Like . . . Obsession. Have you ever smelled it before?" 

Taemin rests his head on Jongin and nods. "I think my mom wears that actually. That's weird. I like the smell though. It's nostalgic." 

Jongin smiles. "That's what I thought too. Like it was a scent that I had smelled before, but I couldn't remember where." 

"So you knew her then?" 

"Maybe." Jongin replies lightly with a hint of mischief. 

"You're a tease." Taemin says and closes his eyes. 

"What if I told you I knew her very well? Intimately even?" 

Taemin's eyes pop back open. "Did you?" 

"Well, I can tell you what she smelled like. And I can describe the sound of her voice . . . the feel of her skin . . ." 

Taemin scrunches his face in horror. "Seriously? Oh my God, wait-- were you the poor but ridiculously gorgeous housekeeper's son that the wealthy and sex-deprived beautiful Baroness had an affair with? But yet, you didn't know she was the Baroness because you didn't know what the Baroness actually looked like? So then . . ." Taemin sits up suddenly in bed, his voice getting a bit louder as his excitement grew. "So then . . . the Baron, catches you two in a sexy rendezvous, and kills her, but doesn't worry about you, because you can't see anyway?"  

Jongin laughs long and loud. "Do you think you've already solved it?" 

"Aw man, did I?!" Taemin's eyes practically sparkle. 

Jongin finds the boy cute. "If it was that easy, I hope you didn't pay a lot for me." 

Taemin narrows his eyes and tsks. "Why do I not believe you?" He lays back down, stretching himself out languidly. "You better watch out sir, I'm smarter than you think. I might solve this whole thing before you tell me the ending."  

Jongin consider that deeply and nods. That's actually what he's afraid of. Because Taemin is very difficult to please. He doesn't want to disappoint him. 

Taemin falls asleep shortly after that, still fully clothed, while Jongin remains spread out on the bed, still exposed and waiting, but . . . he doesn't mind much. He can feel Taemin's breath blowing steadily against him.  

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 2

 

The next day, Taemin was in a good mood. He had Jongin tucked close to him as he roamed the school yard for a nice place to relax. A girl in his class had admired Jongin, asking Taemin how he liked him so far. She said she had almost bought him too. At that Taemin told her. "Oh, be glad you didn't. He's very predictable." He teased. 

Taemin sat against a tree and had Jongin sit in his lap. "So where were we? Oh that's right. You were sexing up the Baroness. You playboy." 

"I never slept with her." 

"Really? Why not?" 

"Maybe she wasn't my type." 

Taemin rolls his eyes. "Sure. Ok. Then why were you there the night she was murdered?" 

"To be honest, at first I didn't know. I really couldn’t remember." 

Taemin frowns growing highly unconvinced and skeptical. "Wait, so you're blind AND lost your memory? What the hell kind of murder mystery is this?"  

"You're confused, right? You're supposed to be." 

"I'm . . . confused." Taemin agrees. 

"Let's keep going then. Like I told you. I knew a lot about her, but I know for a fact that I wasn't her lover. I mean I had seen glimpses of her, had gotten tiny pieces of information about her." 

"Seen glimpses of her? But you're blind." 

"I was blind . . . when she murdered. But I haven't always been." 

Taemin makes one of his crazy faces again, his eyes going wide, his mouth gaping in something between horror and disgust. "Oh My God, this is so complicated." 

Jongin still finds him cute and he's happy that he's managed to keep the ever difficult Taemin on his toes.   

"So . . . do you remember now, why you were there the night she was murdered?" 

"I do. I was sent there. To witness her murder." 

"By who?" 

"That's a good question, but it's far too early for that answer. Let's talk more about her, the Baroness. Her name was Catherine. She was British and she was married off to a French Baron named Francois. He was a good husband to her, she didn't have any complaints and she was generally very well-liked." 

"Not liked well enough to not get murdered." 

"That's what I thought at first too. So I was skeptical of everyone around her. Her husband, the maids, the kitchen staff, the stable boy, hell . . . even the other members of court. There was so many secrets, so much money and politics . . . it took forever to find everything out. I had no intention of actually making any contact with Catherine. I just wanted to blend into the background. Observe all the cogs in the machine. So I did a little magic." 

"Oh? You're a magician now too? A blind, magician with memory loss?" Taemin laughs. "You're just yanking my chain at this point." 

Jongin laughs as well. "No I'm serious. It's much easier to entertain your suspects than to sleep with them. Lips become loose either in bed, under the influence, or when they find you no threat at all. So who better to trust than a blind magician?" 

"What about the memory thing? If you went there with a purpose, why did you end up in her bedroom that night?" 

Jongin shakes his head. "I must have been drugged." 

Taemin frowns. "But why? Why would someone want to drug you?" 

Jongin smirks. "Now, we're getting somewhere." 

"Ahh, seriously!" Taemin shouts, his smile like a million dollars. He feels excited. He feels like he's on to something. Jongin was actually better than he thought. Taemin wants to keep going, he wants to find out more, but he's got to head back to class. "Come on, we'll talk more when we get home!" 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 3 

 

The story was supposed to continue once they got home, but Taemin had gotten a bad remark in class. The paper he had written about the Socioeconomic-status of societies and how they thrive or perish was, as his professor put it, "A dump of Data Shit" and he was told to re-do it or else he would get a failing grade. 

So Taemin stayed up all night, writing and re-writing his stupid paper. Jongin sat quietly next to him. He probably could have helped him, but Taemin never spoke to him. He did however look at him longingly, as if he wanted to. The boy whom Jongin had come to hold an esteemed fondness for, would pout and bite at his pretty lips before huffing and turning his eyes away.  

Jongin felt a little better, but he wanted to help his owner. Wanted to ease his worry and wear. That was his job after all. He wanted Taemin to want him more, to lean on him more, and to gain strength from him. He'd have to try harder to please him.  

Jongin thought about it a long time as he watched Taemin work. Thought about the day Taemin had bought him.  

Kim Jongin had been sitting in the same spot his entire life. He had seen several of his comrades come and go in the meantime. Saw them taken away and their empty position replaced just as quickly.   

It was a little tiresome. Everyday a new setup; get someone to pick you.   

Easy, except you weren't allowed to talk to them. Couldn't show them anything of what you had to offer. The only thing you had to make the perfect first impression was the face you were born with.   

And not to toot his own horn, but Kim Jongin didn't think he'd have a problem in that department. After all, his face was flawless, his spine perfect, and his body on the thinner side. But for some reason or another, day after day, he got bypassed.   

There was a beautiful blonde with red-dyed tips standing in front of him one day. She hovered her fingers against his spine. Her blue eyes squinting as she inspected him. Her mouth moved as she read his name aloud. But as his name left her lips, her brow dipped and she moved on to another beside him.   

Jongin wanted to scream. Why? Was his face not eye-catching enough?! Was he not her type?  

She ended up picking Kim Jonghyun instead. She picked him out of the line, inspected his face, his body, turned him around. And then she let him speak to her. But instead of a fantastic opening story to win her over . . . he sang to her. Sort of. His words were like poetry, written with a distinct and fragrant prose . . . all whispers and promises of love and passion. The girl blushed a pretty light pink.   

She bought him a minute later.  

Jongin wanted to roll his eyes. If a romance was what she was after, he was glad she didn't pick him. He was certainly not about all that. No, Jongin was mysterious and maybe even a little dark. His words weren't pretty and they didn't embellish facts. That's why the color he wore was black. That's why his name was spelled in bold white letters. And that's why the color of blood was splattered across his front.   

Ok, so maybe he was a little intimidating. But he was definitely superior.   

The next girl that came by was looking for fashion tips and a best friend to cry on because her boyfriend had just broken up with her. Jongin sighed when she picked him out of the line. She took one look into his cold, blank eyes and the blood on his shirt and made up her mind. She made a face like she was horribly disgusted and had the nerve to toss him back in the line too roughly.  

Jongin fell over on his face. He sighed again.  

She eventually picked Kim Kibum.    

Jongin stared at the wooden surface that he was lying on, thinking he probably wouldn't get picked if the clientele continued to be stupid teenage girls.  

So imagine his delight and jubilation when he felt small, soft hands pick him up and take him out of the line. Small, soft hands that belonged to a boy!  

Jongin stared at the boy hard, trying to think of what he could do to sway him. Would he want him to be dark and rough? Or perhaps a little on the lighter side? Jongin didn't do pretty words and he certainly didn't give fashion advice, so he needed this boy to pick him at all costs. He needed to get the hell out of this line forever. So at this point, he'd bend a little bit if he had to.   

Lee Taemin scanned Kim Jongin curiously. He hadn't really thought to make any purchases today, he just had some time to kill. But when he saw Jongin lying face down, Taemin felt compelled to help him stand back up. And when he looked at his face, Taemin's mouth gaped in awe. He ran his fingers over Jongin's front in wonder. Dark, calculating eyes, a gorgeous angled jaw, and a conceited smirk. They all belonged to the boy presented to his eyes. A boy that was tall and lean and wore a suit that was splattered in blood and a pearl earring in his left ear. Taemin was kind of interested. He dropped his hand from Jongin's face and checked his pocket.   

Jongin waited patiently, but the boy hadn't let him say anything yet. But Jongin had to say something. He had to hook him in.   

But amazingly, the boy produced some crumbled bills from his pocket and looked up with sparkling eyes and a hundred-watt smile.   

And then he bought him. Without talking to him. Lee Taemin bought Kim Jongin at first sight.   

Now, Jongin had heard of this happening before, but it was incredibly rare. And now he was a bit nervous. Because now that he had been bought, he'd have to keep this boy's attention or else he would be discarded and abandoned.   

Taemin didn't let him speak for the next three days. Didn't even look at him! Just went on about his business while Jongin sat on the boy's bed.     

And that brings him back to the present. Jongin's shocked when Taemin finally gets up from his desk. The pretty boy stretches his hands over his head, exposing his cute little tummy and groans from the pain in his aching muscles. He grabs Jongin and they retreat to his bed. He curls up under the covers and faces Jongin so that they're only inches apart. 

Taemin sighs, clearly tired. He runs his fingers softly over Jongin, just tracing him. "Why is it, when it's just getting good, I can't talk to you?"  

"You can talk to me whenever you want to." 

Taemin shakes his head and squishes further into his covers. "But I'll get distracted. And I don't want my mom to complain about me buying you. She says it's wasteful and unproductive. She's annoying." 

"For some people, it's just not their thing. I've had those kinds of thoughts about you actually." 

Taemin looks worried. "Really? How so?" 

 "Sometimes I feel like I'm not interesting enough. Like one day you'll stop talking to me." 

Taemin smiles reassuringly. "Aw come on. I may not be the most consistent, but . . . I always finish what I start. I'll definitely listen to you until the end. I promise. And hey! it's so exciting now, I'm super interested." 

"Really?" Jongin asks, unconvinced. 

"Really!" Taemin nods but his eyes are starting to close. "But, let's talk tomorrow. I won't remember anything you say to me now." 

"Goodnight Taemin." 

"Mmm" Taemin hums back and falls asleep with Jongin beside him.


	4. Chapter 4

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 4

 

The trees passed by so quickly, it was more a blur of green than anything picturesque, but Jongin couldn’t be happier. Taemin had brought him on vacation. Well, it was a family vacation and they were to be in the car for twelve hours, but that still meant twelve hours for Kim Jongin and Lee Taemin to pick up from where they left off.  

Taemin hadn't been kidding when he said anything you tell him when he's tired he'll forget, but Jongin didn't realize Taemin would forget the things he said to him even when Taemin was wide awake! At this rate, the story would never end! 

"Ok, OK, I'm sorry, can we just go back a little bit?" Taemin pleaded, his eyes growing ridiculously large and his lips protruding ridiculously too far out. 

Jongin sighed. Difficult Lee Taemin. But who was he to deny the boy anything? "Ok fine. but you have to listen!" Jongin chastised.  

"I'm listening, I'm listening! Besides . . . maybe I just like hearing your voice." Taemin winked before shutting up.  

Jongin rolled his eyes, but he was blushing on the inside. "So, what are you confused about so far?" 

"I want to know why you were sent to witness a murder that you couldn't see and why you were drugged. It sounds like a set-up, like someone was trying to frame you? Put you at the scene of the crime." 

"Which is definitely problematic, but remember I knew Catherine would be murdered." 

"You knew? Someone told you?" 

"Yes. And my job was to find out who murdered her." 

"So you're a detective? A blind, magician detective with memory loss?! Jongin this is getting ridiculous!"  

Jongin laughs. "No, No, No listen you silly boy, I only had memory loss the night Catherine was murdered. I couldn’t remember how I had gotten there, meaning I was probably drugged. I did magic tricks to co-hearse secrets from those around her, trying to find out who would want to kill her and why, but my profession by trade is a detective." 

"Good Lord." Taemin said, trying to process it all. He took a swig from his bottle of soda. But suddenly he was jerked forward and the soda in his hand splattered all over Jongin. "Oh my God!" Taemin cried. 

"Sorry, Tae, there's ice on the road." His mother said from the driver seat. 

But Taemin ignored her and grabbed anything he could find to dry Jongin off with. "Sorry!" He said with a cringe when he noticed some of the red from Jongin's blood splattered jacket came off on his napkin. "Oh shit! You're ruined now!" 

Jongin tried to appease the poor boy, to make the little worry lines of Taemin's forehead disappear. "Hey, it's fine. It was just a little bit." 

 Taemin kept the sour look on his face while he glanced quickly at his mother and then back to Jongin. "Ok, keep going." 

"Well, remember when I told you that Catherine's scent seemed familiar to me?" 

"Oh right, Ob-obsession?" 

"Yes and that was strange to me. I thought a lot about that. When I woke up that night in her bedroom, she was hovering over me. I could smell her. I could feel her fingers sliding carefully across my face. Almost like she was petting me or like she thought I would break. And then she spoke. Her voice was actually quite beautiful, but it's what she said that startled me the most." 

Taemin was at the edge of his seat, metaphorically. Because he was after all just strapped in his seat belt in the backseat of his parents' mini van with Jongin pressed closely beside him. His parents probably thought he was crazy. He could see their anxious glances in the rear-view mirror every time he and Jongin whispered to each other. But he disregarded it, they just didn't understand.  

"So, so! What did she say?!" Taemin asked like a child waiting to get the first cookie fresh out of the oven. 

"She said, 'I'm so glad I could finally meet you.'" 

Taemin's eyes went wide. "Ohhh, she knew you?" 

"Apparently." 

"Or . . . she was expecting you? Maybe she knew you would come! Maybe she knew she would die!" Taemin smiles mischievously. "Kim Jongin, are you the Angel of death?" 

Jongin was about to answer, but he was thrown off the seat harshly, his body hitting the floor of the van as brakes squealed painfully and people screamed frantically. Taemin braced himself for the impact before it came. With a crash, the van turned in to an accordion, bending and twisting into angles and planes that it wasn't meant to. Jongin remembers feeling shards of glass covering him like fallen snow. He remembers the quiet hum of the aftershock, the deafening echo that sounds like a tunnel you'll never get out of. But most of all, he was afraid. He was afraid for Taemin. He needed to see him. To make sure he was OK, but he couldn’t. He was trapped under the seat in front of Taemin, the van crumpled all around him. And there was gas leaking and a fire about to start. But he was completely helpless. He was completely useless and . . . unproductive. Just like Taemin's mother had said. Had he been a waste of money? Could he do nothing in a situation like this? 

Just as panic was about to overwhelm him, Jongin felt small, soft fingers touch him. Reaching for him from under the seat. It was Taemin. His beautiful, silly, scatterbrained Taemin. Alive, but hurt. Alive, but bleeding. His hands were cut and his face was scratched. He even had tears forming in his eyes as rescue workers screamed for him to get out of the van. He had to get out. It was going to go up in flames any second, but he kept reaching for Jongin. He wouldn't leave without him. And right as the door was pried open and hands reached in to grab his beautiful boy, Taemin grabbed Jongin and saved him from the fire as well.  

That's when Kim Jongin knew he had made a terrible mistake. Knew he had done something he shouldn't have. He knew he had done something that wasn't right. 

Kim Jongin had fallen in love with Lee Taemin.  


	5. Chapter 5

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 5

 

Taemin and his parents were rushed to the hospital. No one died, thankfully, but they were all injured. Taemin the least, since he had been in the back and the impact had been to the side when the van hit another patch of icey road and had slammed into the guardrail.  

Jongin watched and waited. He was curled into Taemin's side as they shared a hospital bed. Taemin's father had wanted to remove Jongin, but Taemin had screamed and cried bloody murder, so he relented. And maybe it was then that he knew there was a bond there. That they couldn't be separated. That Taemin needed Jongin while his mother was in surgery for her injuries.   

It was dark and quiet and everyone had all gone back to their own rooms after his mother was declared stable. And that's when Taemin spoke to Jongin. His voice was a little hoarse and his fingers were a little weak, but he smiled anyway because . . . it could have been worse. They could have all died. Just like that. 

"Hey, talk to me." 

"Are you ok?" 

"I've felt better. Distract me. Please?" 

"I'm not the Angel of death and Catherine was my mother." Jongin blurted out. 

Taemin's eyes seemed distant but he chuckled suddenly.  

"What's so funny?" 

"When you said she wasn't your type. I thought you were lying, but I guess it would be kind of gross for you to sleep with your own mother." Taemin explained and promptly laughed some more.  

Jongin felt his heart swell. His beautiful boy was going to be ok.  

But Taemin quieted a little after that, looking at Jongin with a new worry in his eyes. "You were sent to watch your mother die? Why? How could someone send you to do that?" 

Jongin couldn't say anything immediately. Not seeing as how Taemin's eyes glittered with tears at the mere idea. The shocking similarity between their predicaments a little too close for comfort. Ironic how that happens.  

"I thought so too at first, that I couldn't possibly want to see that, but I wanted to go. I thought maybe I could save her." 

A tear fell at Jongin's words. A beautiful tear fell from Taemin's eye.  

"I couldn't save her, though, Tae. She still died that night." 

Taemin's brows crushed together as he cutched Jongin tightly. "It's OK. I'm sure you tried really, really  hard." 

Jongin felt like crying through his smile as Taemin tried to comfort him. Which was completely ridiculous, because it was supposed to be the other way around. But that was why he fell in love with Taemin in the first place. His sweet and difficult Lee Taemin.

"It wasn't about me saving her. It was about finding her secret." 

Taemin stayed silent for a long while and they both listened to the machines around them, the dull and mechanical sounds of a hospital. And then Taemin's eyebrow quirked and he turned to face Jongin. "Did you find it? Did you find her secret?" Taemin whispered. 

"I did." Jongin whispered back. 

"Was it a bad one?" 

Jongin contemplated a moment. "I suppose it depends on how you look at it. For me, it's probably a curse, but for her, it was a blessing. It was a means of escape." 

"Escape?" 

"From anything and everything. From the world in which we know. You know that feeling, don’t you?" 

Taemin smiled. "Of course, I wouldn't have bought you otherwise." 

Jongin smiled too. 

"I'm glad, you know. . ." Taemin said quietly. "That I bought you. And I'm sorry that I ignored you in the beginning. And I'm sorry for not remembering everything. But you're good. I like you. I really do." 

Jongin nodded. "Shh, go to sleep Taemin. We can talk some more in the morning." 


	6. Chapter 6

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 6

 

From then on, Taemin kept up his end of the bargain. He took Jongin everywhere, out to eat, on long walks in the park, whenever he went to exercise. Heck, even now, Taemin was taking a bath with him in the room. 

Jongin gulped as he watched Taemin's wet and naked body lay most comfortably in a bathtub full of bubbles. Taemin took out a small, dripping hand covered in soap and wiggled his fingers at Jongin threateningly.  

"Watch it, Tae!" 

Taemin giggled. "Oh stop, I'm not gonna get you wet, I don't want blood on my fingers." 

"Do you remember what we talked about last time?" 

"Why do you keep phrasing it like that? I'm a new Taemin, I can remember even the tiniest details you tell me Kim Jongin."  

Jongin smirked wryly. "I'm not so sure about that." 

"Well, for the record. I think the stable boy killed Catherine." 

"Oh really? And why?" 

Taemin pointed a finger in the air. "First of all, there was something weird there. They didn't talk to each other like a normal servant/master would." 

"That's perceptive." Jongin admired. "I found out they were indeed having an affair." 

Taemin smiled, rather proud of himself. "See, I got this." 

 "But, the stable boy didn't kill the Baroness, he had nothing to gain from her death." 

Taemin pouted. "Fine, but what about you? You never told me who sent you to witness your mother's murder. And what does that even mean? Like you knew about her, but you had never met her, you knew she would die . . . I don't get it. Did you know she was your mother the whole time?" 

"That's a lot of questions, Tae." 

Taemin feels like splashing Jongin with water. "Haven't we come far enough that you can reveal something? Like just give me a hint." 

"You're missing a detail that we’ve gone over before. Something from the very beginning." 

Taemin huffed and tried to wrack his brain.  

"What were the first things you remembered about the Baroness before you knew anything about her? Where is she from?" 

"Great Britain?" 

"What's her favorite color?" 

"Blue?" 

"What was she wearing the night she was killed?" 

Taemin's shaking his head but he knows the answer is there somewhere. And that's when he gets it. "Oh my God!" He squeals, water sloshing over the sides of the tub as he sits up. "Pearls! They were all after her super expensive family fucking pearls! Hah! In your face Kim Jongin!" Taemin yells like a ridiculous child and giggles as he sinks back into the tub. 

Jongin shakes his head but laughs long and loud in the bathroom. "You are surely something else Lee Taemin. So yes. The pearls were important, more important than even I suspected. And not just the necklace, but the earrings too. When I saw pictures of her, I saw her wearing the necklace and I knew there was connection, but to me I could never remember my mother. In my world, she died when I was five. The only thing I had left to remember her by was the smell of her perfume and a pair of pearl earrings." 

Taemin's eyes narrow as he listens to Jongin. He sits up and leans over the edge of the tub, his head coming to rest atop his folded arms. "Your world? Did you just say, in your world?"  

"Ah, so you are listening." Jongin teases. 

"You're a detective from another world? Are you an alien?" 

Jongin laughs. "No, but that would be cool. I'm a time traveler. But I travel not through time specifically, but dimensions. In my world, my mother died when I was five. And in Catherine's world, I had died when I was five." 

Taemin stays stilled into silence for some time. "Oh my God." He says, his eyes moving to the thoughts in his head. He suddenly looks at Jongin pointedly, a smile breaking out on his face. "That's SO COOL! A time traveling, magician detective, that's blind?! I couldn't even make this shit up if I tried. You're pretty good."  

Jongin shakes his head. He'll never tire of his boy's antics. "I took the job to witness her murder because I was the only one that could. And I really did think I could save her, but turns out I didn't really need to. She had already saved herself. That's . . . again a part of the reason I was sent in the first place." 

Taemin shakes his head and holds up a halting hand. "Wow. Ok, don't tell me any more. I really don't want to forget anything!" 

Jongin smiles and lets Taemin finish his bath. 


	7. Chapter 7

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 7

 

It's a cold night in December and Jongin and Taemin are cuddled on the couch by the fire in the living room. Taemin's been sipping his hot chocolate for like thirty minutes. It's probably cold by now.  

"Are you ready yet, princess?"  

"Ok, OK I'm ready, I just wanted to enjoy my drink before getting into the knitty gritty." 

"Are you excited?" 

"Am I?! The moment I've been waiting for! The night of the murder. I want a detailed play by play Jongin, don't cut corners on me." 

Jongin chuckles. "Ok, it goes like this. I was convinced the maid and the stable boy had conspired together to steal Catherine's pearls. After all, the stable boy and Catherine were having an affair, right? And well, there was something equally weird about the maid. She seemed to linger in places she shouldn't and that one time she gave Catherine spoiled food had made her sick for three days. It seemed a little intentional to me." 

Taemin was staring at Jongin totally focused, even biting his nails at this point as he nodded. "That makes sense. Yeah, the maid. That nasty maid." He muttered. 

Jongin smirked, but continued. "So the night of her murder I woke up in a fog. I didn't know how I had gotten there. I was clearly drugged, but by who? and Why? That's when Catherine spoke to me." 

"I'm so glad I finally met you?" Taemin supplied. 

Jongin nodded. "And, 'I see you've found the secret.'" 

Taemin's eyes grew wide like a kitten soaking up warm milk.  

"But . . . what's the secret? I asked her, because even then I wasn't sure. I thought she meant the time travel and I guess that was true. So I asked her if it was a rare gene or some kind of special gift? And she laughed. A delicate yet knowing laugh. It was the craziest thing." 

Taemin couldn't say anything so he just prompted Jongin to continue.  

"So she said, silly boy, it's the pearls. Isn’t that why you can travel and your father can't? And at that point I think I must have just went blank, but it was too late. The stable boy arrived. My mother went to tend to him. They must have been kissing when the maid showed up because there was fight, a struggle. I could hear yelling and screaming and of course I had no idea the maid and the stable boy were actually married." 

"Oh shit." Taemin mumbled. 

"Then the maid produced a gun and shot the Baroness straight through the head. Her brain exploded and her blood splattered all over the stable boy's jacket. In a fit of panic, I was discovered in the bedroom and suddenly my jacket was taken off me and switched with the bloody one I have now. But that's just it. My mother's body was never found. And the blood on my jacket proved to belong to the stable boy instead." 

"Oh my God, what happened?!" 

"Is it making sense to you yet?" 

Taemin's eyes crisscrossed. "Uh, she . . . time traveled? Because . . . she was wearing the pearls? She escaped her death?"  

"Bingo." 

Taemin's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open. "That's it! Wait, so is that the end?"  

Jongin took in a halting breath. Oh shit. Was that the end? Did we make it to end already? Oh shit. Suddenly Jongin was afraid. "I'll tell you the ending tomorrow."


	8. Chapter 8

 

**Doomed Love**

 

Chapter 8

 

That's what Jongin had said, but that's not what he did.  

"Why are you dragging this out? You're making me crazy here!" Taemin whined as he hugged a pillow against his chest. It had been weeks since Jongin told him about the night of the murder. Everything was just falling into place. The pieces were all starting to click. Heck, Taemin felt like he could actually see the puzzle! But there were still pieces missing. And Jongin was holding on to them tightly. 

"You just seem so happy, Tae." Jongin said slowly. 

Taemin was confused. "Why wouldn't I be?! It's the ending! Do you know how long it's taken us to get this far?" 

"Six months, five days, thirteen hours and twenty minutes." Jongin read as if reciting something very mundane. 

Taemin was taken aback. He laughed sheepishly. "Well, that's certainly impressive. I guess, I was a little slower than I thought. But why do you so sound weird?" 

"Taemin . . . are you going to miss me?" 

Taemin's brow furrowed. "Miss you? What do you mean?" 

"When I tell you the ending, I can't entertain you anymore. We won't talk like this ever again." 

Taemin looked confused. "But . . . isn't that the point? I mean . . . why did you tell me the story if you didn't want me to find out the ending?" 

Jongin was an idiot. He knew it. But, he had thought he and Taemin had something. He thought they needed each other equally. Was he wrong? 

"Jongin, maybe there's something I'm missing, but you can't string me along this far and not deliver. It would be like denying a thirsty man a drink. Why would you do that to me?" 

 "Because . . . I love you." 

Taemin blinked. "You-," 

“Taemin, please, I wasn’t planning on this. Falling in love with you was the last thing I wanted. Because I know our time would have to come to end. Yet-- here I am, begging you not to turn the page. If you turn the page, this whole thing is over. We are over.”  

Taemin smiles sadly but fondly at Jongin. "Hey, don't be like that. It's not over, I can always read you again. You're my favorite after all."  

Jongin shakes his head, his heart breaking. "It wouldn't be the same. It's never the same the second time around."  

Taemin looks at Jongin seriously, getting a little frustrated at his depressed and solitary tone. "You don't want me to turn the page?"  

"I don’t. I really don't."  

"Because you don't want our story to end?"  

Jongin shakes his head.   

"Then leave me wanting more, Jongin." Taemin pleads. "Leave me on the edge of my seat, hanging by a thread, on the tips of my toes. Twist me, turn me and turn my world upside down. If you love me as much as I love you, you'll do it. Don't disappoint me, Jongin."    

Jongin sucks in a breath at the gleam in Taemin's eyes. A challenge. And a threat. You see even from the start, Taemin had Jongin in the palm of his hand. Constantly making the boy dance to meet his fancy. Difficult, difficult Lee Taemin.   

But Jongin was serious when he said that he loved Taemin. And by God, if had to change himself, if he had to be born again a new, just to see him again. Just to talk to him again. Just to tell him one last story. He would do it.   

So when Jongin told Taemin the last line on the last page, he closed his eyes and fell silent with a faint smirk still on his face.

Because he had left Taemin with the best cliffhanger he could possibly think of. 

And after that, it was all over.  

Well, not really. 

Kim Jongin didn't know when it would happen or if ever at all. Because this time he looked just a bit differently. He was older and wiser and had more charisma. He knew his way around the line. So this time, he made his cover brighter, more attractive. And he structured his words better, more thought out. He didn't want to attract just anyone, though. Only him. His beautiful boy. His heart. His love.   

So when Lee Taemin heard there was going to be a sequel to Kim Jongin, he was first in line at the midnight release.    
    
After all, he had absolutely loved Kim Jongin, and the sequel was bound to be even better. Of course what Taemin didn't know, was that there wouldn't just be a sequel, or even a trilogy. This story . . . their story, had no end in sight. It was only the beginning to one of the greatest series ever written. 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading <3 this story is also available in a spanish translation https://snowflakemoon.livejournal.com/11971.html


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